


Sweet Dreams

by Lady_of_the_Rings



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Cussing, F/M, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, I Don't Even Know, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lonnie is a jerk, M/M, Original Character(s), Original Male Character(s) - Freeform, POV Multiple, POV Original Character, Panic Attack, Past Abuse, Please tell me if i've missed anything, Post-Season/Series 03, Trigger warnings will be listed in notes, Unbeta'd, goodbye y'all and I'm sorry, he's gone now, i think, might edit later, the author has no idea, this is actually kind of cool, we're making it up as we go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 16,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22165969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_of_the_Rings/pseuds/Lady_of_the_Rings
Summary: What if Hawkins wasn't the only lab to give kids superpowers?(Title from Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics)
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler (minor), Will Byers/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 71





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Welp that summary was shit.  
> I will warn you now that i have no idea how long this will be or how long it will take to finish, so yeah.  
> TW/ semi graphic description of panic attack

Will still has dreams about the Upside Down. But it's okay. It's better.

He knew those dreams were never going away. His mom called it post-traumatic stress disorder.

His brother calls it shitty.

They're both right.

He doesn't wake up in a cold sweat anymore. The dreams are still scary, but they don't feel real the way they did before.

Maybe his mom was right. They needed to leave Hawkins. There were bad memories there.

He sits up on his bed. The walls of his new room are already plastered with drawings, mostly of his friends, and some of Hawkins. He's taken to drawing everything he remembers, so he doesn't forget.

Some of the bad stuff he knows he'll never forget.

He doesn't draw that.

It still feels strange. The new house is almost too perfect. The new  _town_ is almost too perfect.

Maybe he's just being paranoid. But after what happened, he can't help feeling that everywhere had a dark secret. That nowhere he could go would be safe.

He shivered. He could still feel the Mind Flayer's gaze on him. It wasn't easy to forget the control it had over him.

But it was dead now. He could feel it.

He shakes his head, standing up. His thoughts were getting too loud again.

It was time to go out.

He pulls on a thin jacket. “Jonathan, I'm going out!” He yelled.

"Okay! Don't go far!” comes the reply.

That's one of the good things about moving. His brother and his mom had cut him some slack and let him bike and walk on his own again.

He passes El in the living room. “Going to the woods?” asked El, her face inquisitive. She's watching cartoons, which she has become obsessed with since Will showed them to her.

He nods.

She nods sagely back. “Tell me if you see anything interesting.”

He smiles at her. Since they've become step-siblings (or whatever they are now) they tell each other everything. It's nice to have someone his own age to talk to who's gone through the same stuff he has, since he's left all his other friends behind.

School is different here. He doesn't have any friends here yet, but he doesn't really care about that. Friends here would just mean people close to him that he would have to lie to about his past. But the bullies haven't really singled him out yet. He half thinks they're afraid of him.

He had a panic attack one day, and had freaked out a good portion of the school, apparently.

He thinks about the first time he had a panic attack in his new school as he walks into the woods.

***

It was his second week of school. He had been careful, avoiding anything that might be triggering. He was _not_ going to have a panic attack here. No way.

But the universe had other ideas.

He was in science class, which he normally enjoyed, but today was different. They were going to dissect frogs or something, and the air was heavy with the smell of formaldehyde with undertones of death.

When he walked into the room, he nearly had a panic attack right there. The smell... it reminded him of the Upside Down, and the hospital. Death & chemicals.

He swallowed, pushing the fear down. It would be fine, he would ignore it.

But that wasn't the only thing that went wrong.

Halfway through the lesson (dissecting frogs was gross, by the way) the lights started flickering.

He closed his eyes, dropping his head to his hands. _Deep breaths,_ he tells himself.

Suddenly he feels a hand on his back. He lets out a loud yelp, springing away from whoever (or whatever) touched him. He ended up sprawled on the floor of the lab, breathing heavily, eyes darting around the room. He started to curl in on himself, fingernails digging into the skin on his palms.

The teacher, who was the one who patted his back, gave him a worried look. “Are you okay?”

Will can't answer. He can't breathe. The air all tastes like death, and even when he closes his eyes he can still hear the sound of the fluorescent lights flickering on and off, and it's the only thing he can hear, and then the screaming starts-

And he realized that the screaming is his, and the whole class is staring at him-

And the teacher was shaking him in panic-

They're asking what's wrong and-

He looked up, tears streaming down his face, eyes bloodshot, and there's blood on his hands from where his fingernails have broken the skin-

“H-he can't come b-back,” he whispered. He felt like he's in a nightmare. “I-I can't s-see Him again.”

The teacher clearly had no idea what to do. “I-it's okay, you're safe,” he said, shakily.

“Y-you don't understand,” said Will, grabbing onto the lapels of the teacher's jacket, smearing blood all over him. “Y-you won't k-know h-he's there until you're... H-His. A-and I can't fight him anymore.” The panic gets worse. He shook the teacher a little. “I-if he comes b-back-” his voice broke- “You're all dead.”

Then he faints.

He woke up in his own bed later. He almost brushed the attack off as a dream, but then he sees the cuts on his palms.

He curses himself. Stupid. So stupid. Now everyone knows he's a freak.

And it's all for nothing. The Mind Flayer is dead, the portal is closed. Nothing to worry about.

Except, maybe his stupidity.

***

Everyone had pretty much left him alone after that.

There are whispers, though. Whispers of “freak” and the like. But apparently he scared a lot of people that day.

At least people left him alone, lest they suffer his witchy magic or whatever they thought he had. The fact that they were scared of him made him braver.

He went to everyone he could remember who was in the lab when he had is attack and apologized. “I'm sorry,” he said, “It was just a panic attack. They're not usually that bad. And He? He's dead anyway, so He's not coming back.” He turned on his heel and walked away.

Mostly, the people had looked scared, but a few looked like they pitied him, which was worse.

With those people, he made sure to stand up straight and look them in the eyes. He didn't want their pity.

He kicks a pine cone with one ratty tennis shoe. It hits something with a surprisingly loud noise. He looks up. He can't recognize which part of the woods he's in. He must have walked farther than he thought. He shook his head. Stupid brain. Stupid flashbacks.

He frowns. His pine cone had hit the side of what looked like a little cabin, a bit like Hopper's.

He walks closer. It looks abandoned, and the door's open.

He vaguely wonders if he's trespassing. He pushes it out of his mind. This cabin clearly hasn't been touched in years.

He shrugs and steps inside. What's the worse that can happen?


	2. The First Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will thinks his dreams always follow the same pattern; turns out he's wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: I still don't know what I'm doing!

Will steps through the door, and inadvertently through a giant cobweb.

“Ugh!” he screeches, trying in vain to get the sticky strands out of his hair and face.

Well, he thinks, I guess that's the worst that can happen.

The cabin is dark inside, the multiple windows coated in grime and plant matter. With what little light filtered through, Will can see the cabin was only one room. It seems even smaller on the inside, the only things in the room being a fireplace, a twiggy broom an old twin bed frame with a pile of tatty old blankets on it. He wrinkles his nose at the mildew smell.

Other than the frankly awful smell, the cabin is kind of cool. He doesn't know what draws him to it, maybe he misses his old house and Castle Byers, but he decides to clean it up. Maybe it will make a cool hangout spot, where he can draw and get away from things.

He shrugs to himself, and grabs the broom in the corner of the room.

***

An indeterminable amount of time later, and the dust is all gone (most of it, at least). He's taken out the nasty blankets and the half-rotted bed frame, and the cabin looks almost charming in its clean state. Looking outside, he frowns. More time must have passed than he thought, because it's already almost dark out.

He steps outside, and he gulps. The woods that seemed to pleasant in the daylight now began to loom over him menacingly. He starts trotting in the direction of his house, moving quickly over the ground. The sooner he got home the better.

The sun moves farther down, and the shadows stretch out more, reaching out for him.

His breath quickens. He can start to feel a panic attack creeping up on him, grasping at his heart with its cold, black claws...

And suddenly, he's stumbling out of the woods, into his yard.

He stands there for a moment, taking in one shuddering breath after another. He knows he dodged a bullet there, he could have been alone in the woods at night, having an attack...

That train of thought stops when he sees his mother running towards him, looking panicked.

“Where were you?” she yells. “It's past dinnertime, what were you doing?!”

Oops. “I'm sorry. I lost track of time. I was fine, I promise!”

Joyce pulls him into a hug, and then pulls him towards the house. “I don't care! You scared the shit out of us, Will!”

And then he sees Jonathan and El come out.

Double oops.

“I'm really sorry, everyone,” he whispers, looking down at his feet. “I didn't mean to worry you.”

She frowns, but her expression softens a bit when she sees that he really is sorry. “Well, I'll let it go this time, but next time,” she says, pointing at him, “You're grounded.”

After a second, she adds, “And your dinner's on the stove.”

He smiles up at her. “Thank you!” He runs off to get his (lukewarm) dinner.

Jonathan follows him, shaking his head. “You scared us, little bro.”

Will looks embarrassed as he scarfs down the soup. “'M sorry, won't happen again. I promise.”

Jonathan sighs. “It better not.”

He leaves Will to his food, and El comes in a few moments later to talk about the cartoons she watched that day.

He smiles at her and nods as she prattles on about Loony Tunes or something of that sort, and lets his mind wander.

***

Will dreams about the Upside Down that night. Like always.

He's standing in the middle of the woods, his woods. The air smells of death, feels like ice, and sounds like silence, the silence when the whole world is holding it's breath.

He takes a shuddering breath. This is a dream. Not like his other “dreams”. This is just a dream.

After years of dealing with the dreams, Will knows what to expect. (Or at least he thinks he does). The Demogorgon would come, he would run, it would chase, etc.

He looks around a bit, seeing if he could tell the direction the Demogorgon would come from. He frowned. Maybe it would be the Mind Flayer this time.

He had long learned that there was no point trying to fight the dreams. At least until the monster inevitably showed up he could walk around and do as he pleased.

He decides to walk in the direction of the cabin he found. Maybe he could hang out there for a bit.

He knows he must sound nonchalant about everything. But he truly was scared. He was just good at covering it up.

He walks further into the woods, ignoring the chills going up and down his spine.

He can't tell if he's happy to see the cabin.

He stands in front of the door, pausing for a second to check behind him. Nothing so far. He bites his lip nervously. Any second now something could happen.

He opens the door slowly. Even in the dream, it creaks open like a cheesy horror movie.

He almost rolls his eyes. His dreams were bad enough without being cliche.

What stops him is the fact that the inside of the cabin is certainly _not_ as he remembers it.

There's a pile of blankets in the corner of the room, with a wooden chest pulled in front in a weak attempt to hide them from view. A small unlit lantern is sitting on the chest.

Will frowns. This wasn't how he had left the cabin in the real world, and it certainly wasn't how he found it. He vaguely wonders if this is part of the dream, a Demodog or another monster leaping out from behind the chest or something.

He grabs the edge of the chest's lid. Taking a deep breath, he opens it.

Instead of getting attacked by a Demogorgon, he's greeted by the sight of some folded clothes and books.

“What?” he says out loud. He rifles through the items quickly, frowning deeply. This was getting more confusing.

Suddenly he hears a creaking noise.

His head shoots up, ready to meet the eyeless face of a Demogorgon.

Instead he sees a boy staring back at him.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey sorry if these chapters have been boring. The other main character is going to be in the next chapter, so things should pick up! I'm hoping to have a chapter at least every week or so.  
> (my fandom tumblr account is @genuineimitationsoflife if you wanna yell at me)


	3. The Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My Original Character finally makes an appearance!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The updates will probably get much less frequent as I start to figure things out, so there's that.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” asks Will, hands on his hips.

The other boy looks to be about Will's age, and is several inches taller. He's wearing a large gray hoodie and sweatpants, and unlaced black combat boots. The hoodie is pretty generic looking except for the symbol on his chest,  ζ.  Will thinks it's a Greek letter or something similar. 

The boy himself has overgrown ginger hair, with bangs covering one of his eyes. The other eye is bright green, almost unnaturally bright. He has sharp features, and his skin is deathly pale.

The other boy just sighs. “Sit down.” He gestures to the wooden chest.

Will narrows his eyes, but sits down anyway.

The boy sits on the floor in front of him, crossing his long legs and starts fiddling with the laces on his boots. “My name is Zeta.” he points to the symbol on his hoodie.

Will is about to ask something, but Zeta raises a hand to stop him. “And before you ask, yes, I am named after the letter.”

He sounds a bit upset at it, but Will decides to ignore that. He'd be mad if he was named Zeta, too.

The boy frowns at him. “Zeta isn't _that_ bad of a name,” he says, a teasing undertone to his words.

Will gapes.

“And no, it wasn't a coincidence I know you thought that. I know that your name is William Byers, you live at 116 Washington Street, Riley, Maine, and that you have a better reason than anyone else to be scared of the dark.” Zeta's expression is deadly serious as he looks Will in the eyes.

“What—how?”

“I can read minds. And control them. If I try really hard.”

“What?” asks Will. This has to be one of the strangest dream's he's ever had.

“Maybe it's better if I start at the beginning.”

“For most of my life I've lived in a lab. I was an experiment, experiment number 6, or Zeta. They wanted someone who could control things with their mind. But they never got to it. The closest they got was me. I was the last one,” says Zeta.

“Why?”

“Because I outsmarted them,” he explains. “They didn't expect me too...” he trails off, looking at Will warily.

“Let's just say they didn't expect me to escape. But they caught me... and then were able to trap me in the Hellhole.”

“The Hellhole?”

“Yeah. The portal to this place,” says Zeta, gesturing around him. “The Upside Down, as you call it.”

Will bristles. “Can you please stop reading my mind?”

Zeta turns a bit red. “Right. Sorry.”

“Anyway, they trapped me here. And here I am.”

“Okay...” says Will, “But you're in the Upside Down, right? But this is just a dream.”

Zeta winces. “Yeah, well, about that...” he suddenly sits up straight. “Never mind. I'll tell you tomorrow. Bye.”

He waves at Will.

Will doesn't understand. “What the f--”

All of a sudden he's sitting up. In his own bed. He sits there for a minute. The sliver of light creeping in from the curtains hurts his eyes.

“What the fuck,” he murmurs.

He checks the clock. “Shit!”

He's late for school.

***

He knows he should be listening. Ms. Dennis (the teacher) is probably talking about something important.

But he can't concentrate. His head is pounding, his eyes hurt...

And for some reason he can't stop thinking of the dream he had. He knows that it's just a dream.

Right?

Zeta was probably a figment of his imagination.

Yes. That made sense.

That also explains why he spent all of his English class drawing the boy over and over again.

He's so absorbed in trying to get the sharp cheekbones and the glowing eyes right, he doesn't notice that Ms. Dennis is calling his name.

“Mr. Byers? I suggest that you save drawing until art class,” she says.

Several of the students snicker.

“S-sorry Ms. Dennis,” he says, cheeks turning red.

He stops drawing after that.

***

His brother is worried about him.

Jonathan knocks on Will's door gently.

“Come in,” calls Will.

Jonathan opens the door. Will is sitting on his bed, sketchpad on his lap.

“Who's that?” asks Jonathan, sitting down on the bed next to Will.

Will resists the urge to hide the sketchpad under his pillow. “A new character I thought of.”

Jonathan nods. “What's his name?”

Will smiles. “His name is Zeta. Like the Greek letter. And he can read minds.”

“Cool. Is he a D&D character?”

“I don't know yet. I just had an idea,” says Will, shrugging.

“Okay. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. You were kind of acting strange earlier,” explains Jonathan.

“Nah, I'm fine,” Will says, smiling reassuringly.

Jonathan studies his face carefully. After the events of the last few years, he was wary to believe that when Will said he was fine that he really was fine.

Will makes sure that he keeps his face neutral. Last thing he needs is his family worrying about him.

Eventually Jonathan sighs. “Remember, if you aren't fine, you need to tell us, right?”

Will nods.

Jonathan nods too, almost to himself, and then leaves, shutting Will's bedroom door behind him.

Will lets out a big sigh, and flops back on his bed. He looks at the drawings of Zeta.

“You'd better just be a dream,” he mutters. “I'd like to get a year without any weird shit happening.”

The drawing looks at him as if to say, “Yeah, right, like that's going to happen.”

Will privately agrees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still here!!!


	4. Scavenging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV my original character :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was mostly written so we could see more of the original character and that I could have a filler chapter until the next time Zeta and Will talk. So, here you go!

(POV Zeta)

He doesn't know why he went into that boy's dreams. He shouldn't have messed with him, he clearly was dealing with his own shit. It wouldn't help for him to be pulled into all of Zeta's mess.

He exhales softly, moving a curtain to look out the window. It didn't look like there were any Demogorgons outside, but that didn't mean one wouldn't pop out at any moment.

Zeta glances around, before his eyes settle at the large stick standing up in the corner. He had sharpened the end to make a makeshift spear, and the end was already dyed black from the last time he had to use it.

See, being able to read minds wasn't a great defense against monsters from another dimension.

He grabs an old canvas bag, and the stick, and opens the door.

Even though it's dangerous, he has to leave the cabin every once in a while to scrounge for supplies. He had only recently moved into the cabin, so there were still some resources around.

He had to leave his last place because the roof had finally caved in.

So, good thing he wasn't there when it collapsed.

He lost some clothes in the building, but he still had tons of clothes that they had given him at the lab.

He hates wearing them, but they're basically his size and they're warm and blend in with his surroundings, so he doesn't really have a choice.

He wishes he could just get out of this place, out of this nightmare...

But that's just a dream.

Still, he gets sad sometimes when he can't remember what sun feels like, or what outside smelled like.

It's a bit cruel, he thinks, that he was only free for a few days, only able to do as he pleased for precious little time before he got locked in this Hell.

He pulls up the hood on his jacket, and looks up at the sky, scowling. The sky is always some sort of stormy here, the only difference being in the pattern of the clouds and how much lightning there was.

Stupid alternate dimension.

“Fuck,” he hisses when a Demogorgon turned its ugly petal-head to him. He brandishes his stick/spear and stabs.

It goes down reasonably easily, but Zeta still sustains a scratch to his arm.

“Shit.” Now he has to scavenge for bandages, too.

Maybe this is why he barged into that boy's dreams. He needs something other than _this_. This endless cycle of wake up, survive, eat, sleep, repeat.

If other people could have dreams, he could at least pop in from time to time.

But he also thinks he did it because that boy (Will) was one of the only people who had any idea what he was going through.

(There was the girl, El, but her mind was so different... He remembers how he had trouble navigating the minds of his siblings. She was like them. She was like him.)

He knows its selfish. To drag someone into this. Into his mess. But he's _so fucking tired._ So fucking tired of living down here, so tired of being on his own...

He needs something. Someone to stop him from going crazy.

So what if it's selfish? Everyone was selfish at one point or another. (He can see into other people's minds. He knows that they're always a lot more selfish then they'd ever admit.)

At least that's what he tells himself. At least that's what keeps him from beating himself up all the time.

He crawls through the broken door of a convenience shop. He stuffs his bag full of canned food, matches, and a first aid kit.

Might as well get everything he can while he's here.

He supposes what he was doing could almost be called stealing, but it's not like there's anyone else here. (And stealing isn't so bad, anyway. Most of the people he's stolen from before didn't deserve what they had.)

So basically, he's just harvesting the resources.

What would he eat otherwise, anyway? He wasn't about to roast a Demogorgon.

Yuk.

He creeps back out of the back window, shoes gently crunching the broken glass as he steps on it.

Vaguely, he wonders what Will is doing now. He would almost put his blindfold on to check, but he had to get back to his cabin first. Out here he would just be a sitting duck.

Every day he wonders if this will be the one when he finally gets caught and eaten. It's been about a year, and he knows he's pushing it. Even though he's always been a good fighter (they made sure of it, but they also made sure he never got too strong, lest he get any ideas) but the fates have smiled down at him. (Or dealt him a real shitty hand, he's not sure. Yet.)

Sometimes he wonders if it's all a dream. A nightmare, maybe. Maybe he'll wake up one day to a family and a life and never have to go back.

(Yeah, right.)

He slinks back into the cabin, closing the door behind him with a sigh. Only one. That's pretty good, considering.

He takes out the first aid kit, and pours a liberal amount of antiseptic on the gash. He knows he should probably use it sparingly, but last time he didn't use any he had to cut a black slug out of his leg, so he was careful.

He bound the cut tightly, then shoved the kit back in his bag. He always had a bag full of essentials ready to grab in case a Demogorgon came and he had to leave in a hurry.

He taps his fingers on his leg restlessly. The adrenaline still ran through his veins, but there was nothing to do. So instead he flops down on his blanket and puts a blindfold over his eyes.

Time to spy on some people.


	5. The Second Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will finds Zeta again... maybe he is real...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pretty much another filler chapter before shit gets real

Joyce wonders why Will went to bed so early today. Usually he puts sleep off until he's too tired to keep his eyes open, then crashes. Either he just never wants to face his dreams, or it's a defense mechanism left over from his week in the Upside Down, but he hates sleep. He goes to bed late and gets up early, and somehow gets by in school.

It's worrying, so she feels a bit bad being suspicious when Will suddenly starts following a normal sleep schedule. Maybe he was just tired.

She was tempted to ask Will about it, but she's trying very hard not to be overbearing. The move was supposed to give them a new start, the ability to start forgetting everything that had happened. It wasn't fair to Will for Joyce to be reminding him of it. Everything was fine now.

Still, she can't help but be worried. She's his mother. That's basically her job.

***

Will didn't know why he felt so anxious to fall asleep. It's not like his dreams were usually great.

But the dream he had last night...

He isn't sure why, but he feels the urgent need to know whether Zeta was just a random dream or someone real.

He isn't sure if he wants him to be real. I mean, if he's real, it means he'll get dragged into a whole 'nother round of Upside Down related shit. But if he isn't real, Will thinks he might just be disappointed.

Why he doesn't know.

Secretly, he wonders if being in the Upside Down messed him up even more than he thought. Does he want stuff to happen? Well, does he?

He makes a noise in the back of his throat, and clicks the light off, letting the dark envelope him. At least everything was silent other than the turmoil in his mind.

He feels a little sick, still wondering if he really wants to fall asleep, if he really wants to know, and what he wants to happen...

He resolutely closes his eyes. He can almost see the words he's thinking typing themselves on the underside of his eyelids. He tries to detach himself, to just watch the words flash by.

Most nights he does stuff like that, trying every sort of trick to make himself fall asleep.

Sometimes they work.

Most of the time not.

He throws one of the blankets off. It's too warm. He's always too warm now. Even though everyone says his skin is cold.

His mom and Jonathan say that he was always like that.

He knows that they're just saying that to make him feel better. He knows there were a lot of things that changed after the Mind Flayer. Not everything, but still enough for it to be hard to hide.

***

He falls asleep eventually.

He's in the Upside Down. In the middle of the woods. He tries to get his bearings, to figure out where the cabin is (maybe he does want to see the boy again) but every tree looks the same.

He takes a deep breath and just picks a direction to start walking.

***

It takes him way longer than he would have liked to find the cabin. It feels like he's been wandering around for a long time, which could mean anywhere from minutes to hours.

Dream time was weird.

He puts his hand on the door tentatively. Even if Zeta wasn't there, he still might be real. He could just be out somewhere else.

Or something.

After standing there in front of the door for a few seconds, he finally pushes it open.

He looks around cautiously. The cabin looks the same as the one in his dreams the night before. The blankets, the chest... It's all the same.

But this time Zeta is lying over the mess of blankets, with a blindfold over his face.

It doesn't look like he's noticed Will yet, so he clears his throat pointedly.

Zeta doesn't stir.

Will wonders if he's sleeping. But the blindfold reminds him of the one El would use to spy on people in the void, and Will wonders if Zeta can do the same thing.

Will steps closer. Zeta still hasn't moved.

Oh, God. He isn't dead, is he?

Will taps him gently on the shoulder.

He finally sits up, pulling the blindfold off.

“Hi,” he says, looking at Will.

Will has no idea what to say. He has at least a million questions.

Instead, he says, “Hey.”

He mentally face palms.

Zeta sits up, running a hand through his hair. “I guess you probably have some questions.”

Will raises an eyebrow. “Some?”

“Well, how many questions do you have?”

“Plenty,” snarks Will. “First of all how are you in my dreams? Why are you here? Where's the lab? What is going on?!”

He stops when he sees the guilty look on Zeta's face.

They look at each other for a few moments (or Will looks at Zeta and Zeta looks at the floor) before Zeta speaks again.

“I'll answer all I can.” He sighs. “And I'm sorry. For bringing you into this. You don't deserve this.”

Will frowns. “Let me be the judge of that.”

Zeta raises his hands in defeat. “Okay. Well, here it goes...”


	6. An Explaination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I'm going to edit these later, but I kinda want to get them out as quick as I can, then I'll go back and clean it up.

“Well, along with being able to read minds...I can also infiltrate people's dreams.”

“So you basically-”

“Hijacked your dream? Yeah.”

Will frowns a bit. He doesn't like Zeta reading his thoughts, but he doesn't say anything (Zeta can hear him anyway). “Why?” he says instead.

Zeta looks down at his feet. Will can see him biting his lip and twisting his fingers together.

Suddenly he gets it. He was there, for a week. He knows how scary and lonely it was...he felt as if he was going insane.

No wonder Zeta wanted someone to talk too. He _needed_ someone to be connected too in the real world. He needed someone to ground him, before the Upside Down corrupted him.

Wordlessly, he sits down next to the other boy. “I don't blame you,” he says softly. Hesitantly, he places his hand on Zeta's shoulder.

He flinches a little at the touch, then relaxes. He gives Will a small smile.

They sit quietly for a little while. Occasionally one boy steals a glance at the other, turning a bit pink when the other catches them.

“So what do you want to do?” asks Zeta finally.

Will shrugs. “Doesn't really matter.” He pauses for a second. “Can you do the spying thing? You know, the thing where you look into the void and see stuff?”

Zeta nods, pulling a black rag out of his back pocket. “I spend most of my time spying on people topside, actually,” he says sheepishly.

Will nods. “Who do you spy on?”

Zeta turns red. “Mostly you and your family, actually.”

Will blushes a bit. “Nice to know you find us interesting,” he says.

Zeta's lips quirk into a small smile. “Well, you're not necessarily interesting. I'm just bored.”

“Hey!” yelps Will, shoving Zeta's shoulder gently.

He laughs, and Will decides that he has a nice laugh. It's very soft, almost tentative, as if it isn't used much, but it's very...genuine-sounding. Will has heard a lot of fake laughs.

This was not one of them.

***

Zeta found talking to Will much easier than he thought. He didn't feel like he had to force himself, and, judging by the calm thoughts Will was radiating, he didn't either.

He also feels a weird fluttery feeling in his stomach when Will smiles. He notices himself watching closely as Will explains the rules of D&D to him, eyes following the little hand gestures he makes and the way his eyes light up when he gets exited about something.

It's weird. Maybe, he thinks, he's been away from people for so long that seeing a person (in real life, not just in the Void) has a weird effect on him.

He brushes the thought off. It's probably something about his isolation.

***

Will wakes up the next morning feeling oddly happy. Zeta and he had talked for a while, mostly about what was happening topside with Will and his family. With a slight frown, he realizes that he never even got to ask the other boy any of the questions he had wanted answered.

He wonders why he didn't.

Maybe he just wanted to let Zeta have some time to talk to someone, someone who new what he had been through.

Joyce notices that Will seems much more cheerful than he normally is, and she gives him a smile. “Looking forward to school today?”

Will shrugs, humming as he pops a piece of bread in the toaster.

Jonathan also notices his brother's demeanor. “No dreams last night?”

Will smiles at him. “A good one.”

Jonathan has to keep himself from hugging him right there. It had been years since Will had a good dream, much less one that made him wake up smiling.

When El gets up, she's surprised to see a happy Will. She's glad. He deserves to be happy.

***

School is...well, school. El is always excited to go. Will supposes he would be excited too, if this was the first opportunity he had to go to a real school.

He tells her she should go talk to the group of girls who always smile and wave when she walks by.

She shakes her head.

“Why not?”

“They might not like me.” She sighs. It's been hard on her, and she sometimes feels a little stressed out about interacting with people who might not be nearly as forgiving with her lack of knowledge than the Byers and the Party were. She constantly reminds herself that they have no idea what her and Will have been through, so they can't be expected to understand her confusion with basic things.

“I'm sure they'll love you. And if they don't, they're not worth your time,” says Will. “And anyway, that would be the best way for you to learn more things.”

She shrugs, playing with the yellow scrunchie around her wrist.

El acts as if she isn't going to go talk to them, clinging to Will all day. But when lunch break starts, and one of the friendly girls waves at her, she goes to sit with them.

Will smiles as he sees his sister talking and laughing with the girls. She deserves some friends.

He doesn't feel ready to try to make friends himself yet. Maybe he wouldn't ever.

But El didn't deserve to be dragged down by him, so he lets her go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I might not be posting anything the next week, but after that you should expect a chapter at least once a week :)


	7. The Passage of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, time passing/filler chapter. We should soon get to the actual plot, i promise!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyyyy  
> I know I'm late, but I can explain. I was on a trip, and didn't have the energy or the time to write *shrugs*. Wrote this in the airport, and, as ever, unedited.

If the rest of the Byers family noticed the change in Will's behavior, they didn't say anything.

He was more cheerful lately. He smiled more often and laughed more, and the darkness that was in his eyes almost all the time since the Upside Down was starting to fade a little.

They all have their own theories. Joyce thinks it must be moving, and that it was Hawkins itself that was keeping the trauma fresh, and that getting away from that place was a necessary step to their healing.

Jonathan thinks that he must have a friend at the new school, because every morning Will wakes up happy each day and never seems upset about going to school (Jonathan knows that Will used to get bullied in the old school; Will never said anything but Jonathan knew the signs). He's thought about asking El if Will had any good friends at school, but he didn't want to seem nosy, so he let the matter rest.

El isn't sure what is happening with Will. It's a bit strange for her, now that Will was happier. She had only known him since the Upside Down. She didn't have the memories of when he was younger and carefree, without having to worry about inter-dimensional monsters and super-powered sisters. At first she was surprised, but after a little while they settled back into a routine, and El found that she quite liked this new Will. She didn't know what prompted this sudden change in him, but she was happy for him.

He deserves to be happy, she thinks.

***

It's an odd feeling for Will, to have another friend. At first it feels like a bit of a betrayal, like making friends broke some sort of unspoken promise he had made to the Party. But he soon forgot his initial unease. There was just something different about Zeta. He thinks it must be that he hasn't had someone to talk to who has gone through the same experiences he has.

He feels like he's been drifting away from the Party in that respect. They were some of the only people in the world who even had a clue what he'd been through, but even they couldn't fully understand what it had felt like, being in the Upside Down. It's a sad thought, but oddly true.

With Zeta, he can talk about what happened without seeing an overwhelming pity. Instead he saw understanding.

And he can also not talk about it. Whenever he talks with the Party, now, or even his family, he feels like they're treating him like he's breakable. Like if they even mention anything like the Upside Down, he'll go into shock.

It was nice at first. It felt safe and comforting that so many people cared about him enough to bother. But it got old pretty quick. He knows that he is not the same person he was, and will probably never be. He feels bad about the way he treated his friends that summer, though. They were lucky enough to be able to move on; he wasn't. There was no use trying to hold them back; and there was no use trying to pull Will forward before he was ready.

They had parted on an understanding. They all need to grow up a little, to move on. They can't be forced to stop moving on and they can't be forced to start.

Will's glad that he and his friends could come to an understanding, even if it was one born of bad circumstances.

***

A month has passed since Will first saw Zeta in one of his dreams.

It's been the best month of Zeta's life.

Granted, that may not seem like it's saying much. The life of an illegal government experiment wasn't exactly pleasant, but still. As hard as it is for him to admit, he's starting to rely on Will. Every day he wakes up and anxiously waits until he can see him again. A thousand thoughts run through his mind. What if something happened to Will? What if the mental connection somehow snaps, and they're both stuck at opposite ends of a divide? _What if Will doesn't want to see him anymore?_

As silly as it sounds, the last option worries him the most. The only people he's had in his life up until this point have not been the most pleasant. Will was really the only one who had an inkling of what he'd been through, and the first person to really be kind to him. Even though he was still trapped in what was pretty much Hell frozen over, the last month still felt like some sort of wonderful fever dream that he would wake up from at any moment now.

He supposes he has pretty low standards for happiness, but still. The way his life had gone so far, anything remotely good was simultaneously a blessing and something to be wary of.

All these fears melt away, though, when he sees Will appear in front of him. The boy still has his bowl cut, which is somehow both ridiculous and endearing. His hazel eyes were sparkling, and a small smile quirked at the edges of his lips. “Hi!” he says, moving to sit on the wooden chest. Zeta marvels at how he manages to look so delicate and perfect, perched up there with his legs curled under him.

Zeta crinkles his nose a bit at the warm fuzzy feeling in his chest. All he can think is, 'this feeling is new. It can't be good.' He tries to tamp down the feeling, because now it's somehow making him feel a little dizzy.

Will notices Zeta's discomfort. “What's wrong?” he asks.

Zeta can feel Will's gaze on him, and he reluctantly looks up from his lap.

He isn't sure what he was expecting Will's expression to be, but this is not it. There is so much raw concern in his eyes, and Zeta, though he adamantly resists from reading Will's mind, can feel his emotions tugging at his own thoughts.

His breath catches in his throat, and he turns red. Wow, he was really feeling weird.

“Didn't sleep well,” he finally says hoarsely.

Now, this isn't exactly a lie. He didn't sleep well. He never does, though, so this wasn't the real cause of his strange behavior.

He will have to be careful. Whatever this is, it's different than any feeling he's felt before. He thinks maybe it's another facet of happiness, some sort of warm, soft feeling in his heart. But for some reason, he knows it's different. That it is something other. It scares him a bit, and the half-truth slips out before he can stop it.

Whatever this is, he thinks, it must be treated with caution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really want to finish this before March, so *hopefully* will post a few chapters a week. On the upside, I think I'm catching a cold. I thought I was fine, but my nose starts randomly dripping, so yeah. Fun.


	8. Not Anymore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will is falling in love with Zeta. The bullies at school start to notice him.  
> Basically, shit hits the fan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so first I wanna list the trigger warnings for this chapter!  
> Homophobia (use of the q and f words)  
> Past physical and verbal abuse  
> Semi-graphic violence (not really, but it's there)  
> And I know this is soon after the last chapter but I had an idea. that's how I'm justifying this shit

The worst thing is that Will has felt this way before. He remembers how awful it was the first time, feeling so wrong for being the way he was.

He had a crush on Mike for the longest time. At first, he told himself that it was just admiration. Of course. What else could it be?

But as time went on, he began to realize it was something entirely different. There was another reason other than admiration. After all, admiration doesn't make you want to be close to that person, doesn't make you stomach flutter and churn, doesn't make you warm inside every time they touch you...

He never fully let himself think about it. He just chastised himself every time he got to close to Mike. A small part of him thought that if he ignored it, it would go away.

It didn't. If anything, it got worse.

It kept growing, like a balloon in his chest, just waiting for the smallest poke to blow open.

That day, the day when Mike said those words, the balloon burst.

He finally realized that he couldn't change who he was. Mike was right. It wasn't his fault that Will didn't like girls. Of course, he was a small part of it, but the real reason was Will himself.

He liked boys. The way other boys liked girls. There was no escape. It was a fact of life, just another horrible truth he had to hide day in and day out.

Will had almost gotten away from it. Mike was gone, and he found that he didn't think of him in that way anymore. Some of the boys at school were cute, but none ever talked to him, so it wasn't an issue.

Then Zeta happened.

He knew he was getting in trouble when he found himself watching a little too closely as the other boy moved, gazing at him intently as he flicked his ginger hair out of his eyes, which somehow seemed to glow of their own accord, with no outside light to aid them. It's not like he wanted to feel this. Zeta, of course, would never think that way about him. Will could never tell him. It would be selfish of him to ruin the friendship they had. Zeta had nothing else. If Will told him, Zeta wouldn't want to be around him anymore, and then his only support line would be destroyed.

No, Will would carry this secret in silence. What was another one, anyway? He already had tons that he would have to carry to the grave. This was just another small burden added to the mountain he had that he would never get rid of.

Or at least that's what he thought.

***

He should have known that the peace wouldn't last long.

One of the school bullies, Tom, Will thinks his name is, though it doesn't really matter, must have had a bad day. Normally he leaves Will alone, too freaky to bother, Witch Boy or whatever they called him (he never really listened anymore, it wasn't worth it). But today, he decides that Will is too unafraid of him.

He waits for Will by the bike stand, with a couple of his goons around to provide backup.

“Hey, it's the fairy!” jeers Tom. A few of his goons chuckle.

Will flinches. He tells himself that they don't know anything. It's just a standard insult for any delicate, quiet boy.

Tom grins at his reaction, and steps closer to him.

Will is frozen in place, looking at his feet and clutching his sketchbook to his chest.

“What have you got there, queer?” says Tom, snatching the sketchbook out of Will's hands.

Will is about to protest, but for some reason it dies in his throat, and he's left there, arms reaching out uselessly towards the stolen book.

Meanwhile, Tom, is flipping through. “Who is this?” he says tauntingly, ripping out a page with some of the drawings of Zeta and holding it in front of Will's face. “Your little boyfriend?”

Will turns beet red and grabs for the paper uselessly. “Give it back!” he says, hating the way his voice pitches up.

Tom and his goons just laugh. “What'cha gonna do, fag?”

The words burn Will to his core. He still remembers vividly, Lonnie coming home drunk.

***

“Weak,” hissed Lonnie, shoving Will. He hits the wall, no energy to fight back. He already has a black eye, and the bruises that dot his torso, new and old, sting and ache. He wishes desperately he could fight back.

But he couldn't. All he could do was curl into a ball and take it.

Lonnie grunted, taking another long swig from the bottle in his hand. “Little fag,” he spat. “Thought I could toughen you up, y'know? Make you stronger. But no.”

He grabbed Will by the hair, and all he could do was squeal.

Lonnie yanked on his hair, forcing his son to look at him.

Will could smell the alcohol on his breath, and could see the anger in his eyes. He emits a squeaking sound, the cry of a broken boy who just wanted to be left alone.

He stared at Will for a few moments, then shoved him back down. He walked drunkenly towards the door, no doubt to buy more booze.

Will could here him muttering those awful things under his breath as he left.

***

Will trembles. The bullies are looking at him, smiles wolfish, and then all of a sudden he's back there, getting beat up by Lonnie, instead of the other boys...

They're punching him, not all at once, almost taking turns. Will lets loose a cry as they punch his stomach, and his chest, and everywhere...

He's curled up in a ball on the ground. They've all left now, having had their fun. He can see bits of paper littering the ground, the remains of his sketchbook. He gets up, body screaming in pain from all the blows.

Barely thinking, he climbs onto his bike and rides into the woods.

He isn't sure where he's going. He just needs to get away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda have an idea where this is going now, so there will be Plot coming up soon, peeps


	9. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Party makes a discovery (a little over a day before the last chapter was set)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm late, but I got really sick and I wasn't sure how I would transition into the next section. So I apologize in advance, I just want to get this out before I forget. I promise I'll come back after this series is over and edit.

It had been a few months since Will and El had moved away from Hawkins. The rest of the Party was getting used to them not being there, Mike especially. Max said she was sick of his whining, but Lucas knew she just misses El too. They had become really close before they moved, and Robin was the only other female friend she had.

Mike also misses Will, although they've been drifting apart, phone calls fewer and farther between. He isn't too torn up about it, honestly. He just had to accept that Will was growing into his own person, and that they were growing apart.

He's still dating El, though. He wishes that he could see her, kiss her one more time. But the drive up from Hawkins to Maine was long, and he didn't have a drivers license. He would just have to wait until Thanksgiving to see them, he supposes.

***

“Mike! Mike!” yells Dustin.

“What!?” screams Mike back up the stairs.

Dustin comes running down the stairs like he's being chased by a Demogorgon. “Look!!”

After tripping over his feet a few times, he makes it down and slams his hands on the table. He's holding a piece of paper, like a map.

“What's that?” asks Lucas, with Max following closely behind him.

“It's a map!” answers Dustin, eagerly spreading it out on the table.

“I can see that,” says Lucas dryly.

Max rolls her eyes. “Of what?”

“A lab!”

That got everyone's attention. “ _The_ lab?” asked Mike.

“No,” says Dustin. “But you're close. When we went back to the original lab-”

“Excuse me you _what?”_ says Steve, scowling at Dustin. “Why would you do that? Do you know what could have happened to you? Do you understand-”

“Anyway, I went back to the _abandoned_ lab, and looked around with Robin some, and I found this!”

At the mention of her name, Robin comes trotting down the stairs. She's become quite involved with the lives of Steve's brood since Will and El left. Max in particular had gotten close to her. Steve would joke that she was the Cool Aunt of the group, and then Robin would reply, “Well than that makes you the Mom.” and Steve would splutter that he was certainly _not_ the mom, while being drowned out by the Party's calls of “Mom!”

Steve gives Robin a dirty look. “Of course she let you go.”

“Hey, either I went with him or he went on his own,” says Robin, shrugging.

Dustin struggles to get the conversation back on topic. “Like I was saying, we found this. It's a map of a lab. Another lab. Not Hawkins, but similar. We found some other documents, detailing the experiments they were doing. Experiments on live humans, like El. But it was shut down before El got loose. Apparently, one of their 'experiments' escaped and they shut it in the Upside Down, and then destroyed the portal. We were only able to snag this map before the police came and we had to run.”

“Excuse me the _police?_ ” shrieks Steve.

“Shhhh!”

“So what he means is,” says Max carefully, “Is that there are more Els out there?”

Robin shook her head. “As far as we know, the only one who wasn't terminated was the sixth experiment, the one who was trapped in the Upside Down. The notes say that he was the only one who gained sufficient abilities to be considered 'useful'. They said that he had 'telepathy and brainwashing abilities', or he could read minds and control them to some extent. He got loose by controlling the guards, and ran loose for a week or so before they found him.” Her face turns grave. “He made the first people who came for him shoot themselves. In the head.”

“So, how'd they lock him up, if he's so powerful?”

Dustin speaks up. “According to what we could find, the effort it took to control minds to that extent must have drained him, because he fell unconscious and they captured him. They weren't allowed to terminate him, so they just took him back. Eventually he woke up, and fought, and ended up cornered. He went through the portal to escape them, and they decided he was a lost cause and closed the gate on him.”

“So, theoretically, he could still be there. In the Upside Down. Trapped,” says Lucas.

“If he hasn't been eaten by a Demogorgan by now, yeah,” confirms Dustin.

“Hey,” says Mike finally, pointing at a spot on the map. “Isn't that where El lives?”

The rest of the Party come closer to look. “Unless there are two Riley, Maines, then yeah.”

Steve rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands. “So let me get this straight. There is a person. A possibly-alive person, in the Upside Down, from a lab, in the same city the Byers and El moved to.”

“Yep,” says Dustin, and Steve frowns.

“Well, fuck,” he says.

They all stare at the map for a moment. “We should call them,” Max says finally, and they all nod.

Mike goes over to the phone and dials their number. No one answers.

He curses under his breath. “No one's home.”

“Well, what do we do now?” asks Lucas.

“We have to do _something_ ,” says Mike.

“Why?”

Robin sighs. “Well, both Will and El still have connections to the Upside Down, right? And if this kid with mind-control abilities is still alive, isn't there a chance that something could happen to them? What if he could manipulate one of them into trying to reopen the portal?”

They all fall silent.

“We have to go there,” says Max finally. “What if they're in trouble already?”

Steve nods resolutely. “I have my car. It would take a day to get there, figuring we don't stop to rest other than to pick up some food.”

They nod. Everyone calls their respective parents, making various excuses. In less than an hour, they're on the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have given myself a month deadline to complete this, which is stupid on my part, but this should hopefully be fully complete by March 17, 2020.  
> If not, please shout at me to get my ass in gear and write.


	10. The Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will finds the Lab in the woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.   
> Still here.

Will doesn't know how long he has been riding through the woods, only that it's starting to drizzle and the ground beneath him is turning to muck. He has no idea where he's going, but he almost feels like there is something pulling him closer to the center of the woods.

Eventually, it gets too muddy for his bike tires, and he has to get off and walk his bike from there. Not that he knows where 'there' is. Normally he would be scared, walking in the woods without knowing where he is or where he's going, but for some reason he didn't.

He knows what it's like to be possessed, to know that his actions aren't his own. This feels different. He isn't exactly being forced, more of... guided. As if the tug in his stomach that kept pulling him in knew where he had to go, and he trusted it.

He does hope his destination is close, though. The rain is soaking through his clothes, making his pants cling to his legs and his shoes squelch.

The last time he was this wet, last time that he was in rain like this was the day the Mind Flayer had come back. It disturbs him a little, the similarities, but he keeps telling himself over and over again that the Mind Flayer is dead and that it can't hurt him anymore. Sure, he could still get lost and starve to death, or get eaten by some sort of wild animal, but those options seem tame compared to what he's been through.

He hears thunder in the distance. Apparently, fate thought that it would be fun to send him on a quest to the heart of the woods in a storm.

Typical.

It's getting harder to wheel his bike along with him, and he considers leaving it. It's not like he can ride it through the mud, and it's just taking more time and effort to bring it with him.

Eventually, he decides to prop it up against a nearby tree. Maybe if he did get lost, his rescuers would find it, or someone would come across it and notify the police.

Hopefully he would be able to come back and get it before any of that became necessary, but it didn't hurt to think ahead a little.

He trudges on ahead for what must be another mile. He wonders how large the forest really is, and how long it would take him to come out the other end. He has definitely been walking for a while, and he's pretty sure that the tug has been taking him in a relatively straight path, considering the amount of undergrowth he's had to maneuver around.

Suddenly, the feeling gets stronger, more insistent. He shoves a few branches aside, and then he's met with a sight he didn't expect.

He was in front of a chain-link fence with several “Warning!” and “Government Property!” signs around it. Beyond the fence is a large, plain white building, like a hospital or something, with an empty parking lot and a small road coming from the opposite direction and through an open gate.

Will thinks it looks like the lab in Hawkins. A small voice in his head says that's cause it probably is. He does seem to have a knack for getting mixed up in this sort of thing.

It looks abandoned though. The windows are dark, and several of them have been shattered. The fence has several holes in it, and the tarmac of the parking lot is starting to crack and have weeds sprout through it.

He knows he probably shouldn't get any closer, but he knows that there was a reason he was here. So, he made his way around the fence until he could find a decent-sized hole to crawl through.

He finds one and is able to get through with the minimal amount of scratches. He crosses the parking lot, and looks around the building.

Against what are probably his better instincts, he goes inside. It's ridiculously easy, the main door is ajar and none of the security measures are working, not like there would be anyone around to hear if the alarm went off.

He slowly walks around the lab (because he's sure that's what it is now, he never forgot what the inside of Hawkin's Lab looked like) and finds nothing of interest. He feels like there should be something there, though, so he keeps looking.

He comes across the stairs, and goes down into the basement. Yet again, without electricity the security measures are basically nonexistent.

He creeps down, half-expecting something to leap out at him. But nothing did. A few times he brushes past a cobweb or a vine and jumps, but nothing jumps out at him.

He's made it down at least two flights of stairs, and seems to have reached the bottom of the lab. Going through the door at the base of the stairs, he finds himself in a white room. One of the walls is covered with control panels, all facing a large window.

Through the window is something that seems familiar to Will even though he's never seen it before.

He moves closer slowly, and presses his hands to the glass. He looks for a door, and is surprised yet again at the shitty security. He finds it gaping open, as if something had kicked it open.

Past the door is another room. This one has dark walls, rather plain and unassuming, except for the wall opposite the window.

There is a large gash, like someone had taken a large knife to the wall, and let the wound scar over.

Will could still feel the residual energy thrumming from the scar. There was no doubt what it was. He had seen enough of the Gate in Hawkins to know what this was.

Another Gate, closed, yes, but not well. The one El had closed had healed over completely, almost as if it was never there. This one looked like it had a flimsy bandage on it to help it heal. He brushes his fingers over the edge of the closed Gate, he realizes that it wouldn't be hard to open again. Heck, he could probably even do it himself, he muses. He could feel the threads keeping it closed. They were weak, and if he just applied the smallest bit of pressure, he's sure they would snap.

But of course he doesn't want to open it again. There's nothing for him on the other side of that Gate except Demogorgans and the stench of the Upside Down.

Right?

Except that isn't right. There is something on the other end of that Gate. Not something, someone. A very important someone. A someone that he cares about, cares about so very much.

Maybe enough to reopen a Gate to his own personal Hell to bring him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not to jinx myself, but I think I might finish this baby!  
> (Also i would love any comments, especially constructive criticism! This is the first thing over 3k words I've written, so I'm kinda winging it!)


	11. The Gate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gate is reopened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *grins awkwardly* well i guess the Gate is open now...hehe

By the time Steve's car pulls up to the Byers' new house, Joyce is already home. She's starting to worry about Will. He should have gotten home from school at least an hour ago, but there's been no sign of him, and as far as she knew he had no friends to be wandering around with. So, that meant that he was probably walking around alone somewhere.

Normally, she would have been delighted at the sight of all the kids in Steve's car. She would have been thrilled to see them, but under the circumstances it just makes her heart drop even farther.

She watches Steve climb out of the driver's seat and immediately notices the bags under his eyes. It looks like they've driven the whole distance to Riley without a proper rest stop. Even Dustin looks exhausted, and it isn't easy to tire him out.

“What's wrong?” she asks, instead of saying hello. Somehow, it seems more appropriate. They all file inside. The entire party is there, including Steve, Nancy, and that other teenager, the girl named Robin.

Jonathan and El come downstairs. El immediately runs up to hug here friends, and kiss her boyfriend, but the words of happiness die in her throat when she sees their expressions.

Jonathan, for his part, goes up and hugs Nancy. He gives Steve an awkward handshake, and simply nods politely to Robin.

“Where's Will?” asks Mike, and Joyce looks guiltily to the floor.

“I don't know, he might be out biking.” Her eyes betray her concern, though.

Breaking the worried silence, Robin pulls a rumpled piece of paper out of the back pocket of her jeans. “We found this in the old lab in Hawkins.”

If they were quiet before, they were even quieter now.

***

Will closes his eyes. The scarred-over portal thrums with energy. He starts to tentatively grasp at the edges of the energy, pulling the strands apart. They pull away much easier than he would have thought. It's like....a knot, Will thinks. It's complex and tangled, but if you step back, and look at it, it's quite simple.

Although it's rather a large knot. He realizes that it's going to take a while, possibly hours, to unpick the Gate.

Well, he has time.

***

After Robin finishes telling the Byers (and El) about the other lab, Joyce voices her concerns.

“There's a lab here,” she says, “And Will has also gone missing. I don't think that's a coincidence.”

“Do you think he went to the old lab?” asks Mike.

Joyce shakes her head. “I'm not sure.”

El silently pulls out a black blindfold. “I'll check for him,” she says.

She puts the blindfold on, and sits on the carpet, legs crossed. Everyone else stands awkwardly, wanting to pace, to voice their frustration, but mindful of keeping quiet for El's sake.

El herself sits perfectly still. A trickle of blood runs down her nose.

After a tense few minutes, she takes the blindfold off. “He's by a gate. To the Upside Down.”

She looks into Joyce's eyes. “He was opening the gate.”

***

Will is exhausted. He has no idea how long he's been standing there, trying to open the portal.

But he's so close... The knot is unraveling. He can feel the Upside Down on the other side, the stench of death and emptiness leaking through. It's almost enough to make him sick, to make him stop...

He knows he has to do it, though. He's made his choice. He made it a long time ago, he realizes.

This is just his destiny, his fate. And all he can do is go along.

***

The Byers and the Party are trudging through the mud, most soaked through. The bushes are tugging at their clothes, and every part of them seems to squelch with every step. Steve especially seems rather put out by the effect the rain has had on his hair.

Robin is leading the way, trying to navigate as best she could using the map. It isn't much of a help, seeing as the woods don't have any landmarks, and the paths are barely discernible. Most of the time, they try to walk over the soggy leaves in an effort (a pointless one) to stay out of the mud.

They had quickly rushed out into the woods to find Will, with only a few supplies. Nancy had a pistol, Steve had the Bat (which he had never taken out of his car) and the others all held makeshift weapons, and flashlights in case it got dark before they made it back.

They've probably been walking for an hour, now. Everyone looks tired and broken-spirited, except for Joyce. Jonathan suspected she ran purely on drive to make sure her son was okay.

Finally, Mike spots something. “Over here!” he calls, waving to the others.

Seemingly forgetting their fatigue, they ran over.

Joyce makes a strangled cry when she sees it. It's Will's bike leaning up against a tree.

“He's probably still out there,” says Nancy. “Maybe he just left his bike because it was easier than wheeling it through the brush.”

Joyce nods, eyes wet all the same.

Robin squints at the map. She tries to shield it from the rain, with mixed results. “Shouldn't be too far,” she says, semi-confident in her proclamation.

They keep trudging along, as the woods get darker.

***

Will is having trouble breathing. The air coming in through the Gate is suffocating, and yet he can't stop. Just a few more strands now, he just has to pull apart a few more strings now...

He yanks at the last cord of energy keeping the Gate closed, and it snaps. He can feel the energy from the Upside Down flowing out, and it takes all of his energy not to faint on the spot. His head is pounding, and he can hear a faint ringing noise in his ears.

He's done it.

***

Suddenly, El stops, causing Max to crash into her. Her face is pale, and she looks terrified.

“He did it,” she whispers. “He reopened the Gate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to you if you've stuck around this long.


	12. The Other Experiment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will and Zeta meet for the first time in the real world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I had a little more planned for this, but my computer crashed and I lost at least a page and a half of writing. So this is a little bit off, I apologize, but I'm also really tired, so here.

Will's head is swimming. He can feel himself dipping in and out of consciousness, and every breath bringing with it the familiar smell of the Upside Down.

After what must have been several minutes of lying on the floor, he can finally bring himself to get up and open his eyes. He still feels dizzy and slightly sick, but he's well enough to see what he's done.

Where there had once been a concrete wall with a long wound in it, there was now a gaping hole. It was covered in a sort of sticky film, and the odd, sickly red light leaked through. It thrummed again, now with renewed vigor. He stared at it in horror. Why had he opened it? Why had he doomed himself to the same fate that they had fought so hard to get out of? Because there was no one there now, no one to pull him out, no Party to fight for him.

The slime covering the gate pulsed and bulged. Something wanted to come out.

And it could do so now. No one was stopping it. All Will could do was stand there and watch as it forced its way through, the film stretching thin and taut, before splitting with a sickening pop.

Will tries to move, but his feet won't comply. It seems like the same force that made him walk over here and open the Gate was keeping him from running away.

He has his eyes tightly closed, half-resigned to his fate. No doubt he would soon feel the moist breath of a Demogorgan as it opens its flower-petal maw, ready to strike...

After a few seconds, with nothing happening, Will opens one eye cautiously.

He lets loose a gasp. The thing that came from the Gate, the thing that lay curled up in front of him, seemingly shocked with its newfound freedom, was not a Demogorgan.

“Zeta?” he says, legs finally complying with his commands as he bends down.

Zeta looks up, blinking repeatedly. His eyes were even brighter in real life. (Will isn't sure if his dreams counted as “real life”, he didn't think so.) His hair is covered in the strange cobwebs of the Upside Down, and he's slightly sticky from passing through the portal.

But Will doesn't think he's seen anyone more beautiful in his life.

Zeta's face breaks into a grin, and it's the most earnest smile Will has ever seen from him.

Tentatively, he holds out a hand to help out the other boy. Zeta stares up at him for a second, eyes wide, then grabs it.

Zeta stands up. When he stands up, Will realizes that they're very close. Probably only a few inches between their faces, and he can feel the blush forming.

He compulsively looks down at his shoes before his gaze flicked back up.

Zeta was still staring at him, his blue-green eyes wide.

 _Fuck it,_ thought Will, and he could see Zeta's eyes widen comically as he heard the thought. Will stretches on his toes a bit, and places a kiss on the other boy's smudgy cheek.

They both turn red, Zeta especially. He starts to sputter out something unintelligible, voice much higher-pitched than normal.

Will opens his mouth to say something. The realization of what he's done is starting to kick in, and he's about to apologize, to run away, when he hears a noise that makes his blood go cold.

It's hard to describe. It's like the sound of wet, raspy breathing, the sound of something dragging itself across the floor, the sound of creeping footsteps...

A Demogorgan.

Zeta's head swivels to look at the monster. Without a word, he grabs Will's hand and drags him away.

Behind them, the Demogorgan lets out a roar (it's not a roar, really, more like a screech) and gives chase.

***

The Byers and the Party finally reach the chain-link fence. Everyone was out of breath from running, but they all felt that the pace was required.

Eleven could _feel_ the gate now, the thrumming of energy. But now she felt something else, some other presence. She hadn't felt something like this at a long time...

She wonders if she should mention something to the others, but they were already crawling through a tear in the fence and heading to the formidable-looking lab.

She bites the inside of her cheek. The memories are coming back now, of the times when she knew her siblings...

She hadn't known many of them, really. Only 009 and 010 were around by then, when she could really remember them..

009 tried to sneak out. Her powers were shaky, uncontrollable.

She died trying to get out.

She couldn't feel her die, exactly. It was more like there was a presence there, like a comforting warmth beside her mind, and then one day it was gone.

They terminated 010. He was probably one of the most powerful ones there, maybe even more powerful than El herself.

Didn't matter in the end, though. He caused too much trouble. One day they took him away, and El never saw him again.

She knew he was dead when the last tendrils of warmth she could feel disappeared.

This is similar. Not as warm as her siblings' minds had been, she thinks. But there. An almost comforting awareness. She wasn't sure when she started feeling it, but it was getting stronger, more noticeable.

It must be the other experiment, she realizes as they're already at the door to the lab.

She gulps, looking up at the sheer walls. She didn't know what to think when Robin had said there were more like her, but now, as she took the first step into the lab that held so many memories similar to her own, she knew.

He was like her. This mystery boy.

He was exactly like her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should only be a few more chapters. The writing quality is really inconsistent, I know, but this is me trying to actually finish one friggin thing I started on time, so I'm afraid it's really all i can do.  
> (also comments would really make my day!)


	13. A Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two POVs collide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay i wrote something! And before my weekly deadline! *gasp*

They're running down one of the seemingly unending hallways, shoes slipping on the grimy white floors. Will can hear his heart pounding in his ear, a steady beat punctuated by the heavy footfalls of the Demogorgan behind him.

Zeta is probably running faster than he ever has in his life. Even when he was running from the scientists and the government agents, and the monsters, he doesn't know if he's pushed himself this far before.

Not for the first time, he wishes that his mind control would work on the Demogorgans. For now, all he can do is keep moving, keep pulling Will to safety. He can hear the panicked thoughts of the other boy loud and clear. He clenches his jaw. It was like yelling, making his ears ring with the sheer fear in the cries.

They turn a corner, the sound of the monster coming ever closer.

Something else tickles at the edges of Zeta's mind. More thoughts, more _fear._

And something else, too. If he wasn't running for his life, thinks Zeta, maybe he could pinpoint it.

They don't have anymore time to worry, because when they round the next corner they run into a group of people.

***

Joyce is in front, leading the way. Her strides are long and purposeful, as if there's nothing that could stand in the way of her and finding her son.

The rest of them follow behind, all on edge. Most of them had been to the lab in Hawkins at some point or another, and none of them had fond memories associated with it.

El trails in the back. She senses something. Something bad. But she can't tell what it is. Her brain is muddled. She can feel the Gate, she can feel Will, and she can feel the Boy. That's what she's calling him, anyway. The other experiment. It's strange, knowing there's someone out there who you've never met who has been through similar trauma. Vaguely, she wonders what would have happened if they'd found out about the Boy before this happened.

She can't do anything about that now, though. She desperately wants to be useful, to have her powers back. She was so used to them, but now they were gone.

Fear gnaws at her stomach, fear of not being able to protect her friends, her _family._

It's about then when two figures run into them at a great speed.

***

Will feels the panic flare up even higher when they crash into a crowd of people. At first, he doesn't notice them, only trying to get up, to keep running, until-

“Will?” Joyce says, and he looks up.

“Mom?” he says, voice hoarse.

She lets out an anxious little laugh, and then pulls him into a hug.

For a second, they stand there, in each other's arms, before reality crashes down.

“Look out!” comes a voice one that Joyce doesn't recognize, but the warning comes all the same.

She sees the Demogorgan there, awful petal-maw wide open and dripping with slime.

_Bang!_ _Bang! Bang!_

They turn, and see Nancy standing there, holding her gun. She continued to shoot, each bullet earning a pained scream from the monster.

Finally, it fell, and then Steve steps from behind and hits it over and over again with his bat, beating any life that was left in the creature out.

***

Zeta's head is pounding. He hasn't been around this many thoughts in forever, especially ones this scared and desperate. His eyes flick between the people standing there, taking it all in.

His gaze meets that of a girl. He immediately knows it's the Girl. Will's sister.

Eleven Jane Hopper. The other experiment from the other lab from the other town.

They hold each other's gaze for a moment. Then, she ever-so-subtly nods, and he stands up.

Everyone's looking at him now. Granted, it was either him or the carcass of the thing that lay in front of one of the older boys (Steve, a quick scan of his mind provides).

“H-hello,” Zeta says. “M-my name is Zeta. I'm the last experiment that came out of this place.” He deciphers a few more of the thoughts darting around the hallway. “Though I guess you already know that.”

The older girl (Robin) gasps. “So you _can_ read minds!”

He wrinkles his nose. “Did you doubt that?”

She shrugs, looking remarkably calm. “Don't exactly trust those scientist fuckers who thought it was okay to experiment on children.”

Zeta gives her a small smile. “No, I guess not.”

“Wait a second-” says Lucas. “So you were in the Upside Down, then Will opened the gate, and now you're here?”

Zeta nods, and then his face morphs into one of anger. “No, I certainly _did not_ control his mind and make him open it!”

Lucas looks at him in disbelief. “How do I know that? You certainly didn't have a problem using your powers to read our minds right now!”

“All your thoughts are so loud, I can barely think! Do you think I wanna hear them?” Zeta yells back.

“Alright, stop it. All of you,” says Jonathan, with finality. “We don't have time for this shit.”

Nancy nods. “We have a portal to close.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably only two or three more chapters left, plus maybe an epilogue!   
> (Also this may be slightly less shitty than last update, so that's good)


	14. Maybe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Party, the Byers, and Zeta try to brainstorm how to close the gate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh this is here

“Alright. Anybody have any ideas on how to close that thing?” asks Dustin.

The rest of the group stay silent.

He sighs.

They've set up temporary camp in one of the rooms with a functioning door still on it. Nancy is standing by the door, gun in her hands, and Steve is clutching the handle of The Bat nervously. Even though they killed that particular Demogorgan, doesn't mean that there aren't more.

“How did you open it, Will?” Joyce asks gently.

Will shakes his head numbly. “I'm not sure. I just... picked it apart, I guess.”

Lucas casts a dirty look at Zeta, who is sitting in the far corner of the room, hugging his legs. “Are you sure he didn't make you do it?”

Will gives him a sharp look. “Yes. I've been controlled before, in case you haven't forgotten. I know how it feels.”

Zeta gives Will a ghost of a smile. It doesn't feel right, letting the other boy stand up for him. Will's right, Zeta didn't control him. But he _had_ controlled other people, made them do things against their will. He didn't deserve the trust the other boy put in him.

Or whatever had happened after he came out of the Gate. Things are so strange right now that he's trying not to add any extra thoughts to the mix.

“El?” asks Steve.

Eleven frowns at him. He knew very well that she hadn't regained use of her telekinesis.

“Sorry, stupid question.”

She sighs at him. “It's okay. But before I closed it with my powers. Without them I'm not sure what I'd do.”

They fell silent for a moment. Zeta took this time to look at El, seemingly studying her. In reality, he's looking inside her mind for any clues about how she lost her powers.

“What about you?” asks Steve, nodding his head towards Zeta.

Zeta gives him a startled look, subconsciously tensing up and hugging his legs to his chest. After a second he relaxes, if only slightly. “I'm not sure what I could do,” he says quietly. “My power only really matters in people's heads. I've tried to use it on the monsters, but it doesn't work like that.”

Lucas lets out a grunt of annoyance and Zeta gives him an apologetic look.

Max sees and elbows her boyfriend in the ribs.

He lets out a yelp, but doesn't say anything.

***

By Will's reckoning, they've been in this room for at least an hour. No one has had any ideas about the gate yet, but no one feels comfortable leaving the room. Every once in a while they'll hear heavy footfalls outside the door, and they all hold their breath until it passes.

El has migrated across the room into Mike's arms, and Will cautiously sat next to Zeta in the corner. Currently, they're whispering to each other, trying to think of something that they've missed.

Zeta falls silent, and he starts to lightly sift through the minds of the people in the room. They've either calmed down a bit, or they're just really tired; either way, their thoughts are quieter now.

No one seems to know anything interesting. Most are trying to think about closing the Gate, others are just too tired to concentrate on any one thing.

Finally, he directs his powers to El. Her mind is so much different than any other he's encountered it's a bit of a shock at first. It takes a second to get adjusted to the unique layout of her thoughts before he can find out anything, but afterwards he can see how similar they were to each other.

He closes his eyes, making it easier to see the other's thoughts in his own head. Will gives him a questioning look, but says nothing.

Zeta wanders around a bit in the girl's mind before he comes up on a walled-off area.

He frowns. This is strange. Normally, when he looked in other people's minds, there were places that were harder to get into, memories that they were trying to forget or thoughts that they would rather not listen to. But he had never come across an area that was just completely closed in.

He frowns. He can't tell if the girl herself has closed it off on purpose (although he doubts it) or if something else has happened that blocked it off for her.

He opens his eyes. Will is looking at him, asking if he's okay.

Zeta nods distractedly, and gives him a weak smile. He stands up, eyes flicking around the room carefully. It was a skill he had picked up a long time ago, the ability to scan for any hostility from other's minds. Thankfully, he didn't detect anything, but that didn't stop him from feeling oddly nervous.

He walks up to the girl. Eleven. The boy, Mike (her boyfriend, his powers supply) gives him a wary look.

Zeta can hardly blame him.

He sits in front of her. They look at each other for a moment.

Then he speaks. “Do you think that you still have your powers?”

She furrows her brow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” he says, “Can you feel them? Still in your head?”

She closes her eyes. For a few seconds, she sits there, silent and still.

“I don't know,” she answers honestly, opening her eyes. “Sometimes I think I feel them there. Other times I think I'm imagining it.”

Zeta takes a deep breath. His blue-green eyes rise to meet her chocolate brown ones. “I think I might be able to bring them back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Ending is Imminent....  
> (Also constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. So are any and all comments!)


	15. Her Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El gets her powers back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Semi proud of this chapter!

No one dares move, lest they disturb the two teenagers in the center of the circle they've formed. Every single one of them is scared and anxious. All that they've been through, and all that they've seen, they've never witnessed this.

El is sitting cross-legged on the floor, with her blindfold over her eyes. Zeta is kneeling in front of her, eyes squeezed shut and fingers pressed to her temples.

Will is trying very hard not to fidget. But it's hard. He's worried about his sister and his..well, whatever Zeta was to him now. He wasn't entirely sure. He regrets pressing that kiss to the other boy's cheek, but there was no going back now. He had been tempted to say something about it before, when he wasn't trying to help El get her powers back. But it didn't feel right, and, anyway, he doubted the other boy even knew what it meant. What it meant to be in love with another boy, what everyone else would think of them...

Will shakes his head slightly. No. He can't think about that, not right now. There's a lot at stake now, and it's his fault. Zeta and El are only doing this now because _he_ had opened the gate.

Best thing he can do now is wait and hope that another Demogorgan doesn't find them.

***

It's dark. That's the first thing El thinks. It reminds her of the Void, the same emptiness that she could look through to find people.

She blinks a few times, and looks around. Zeta is standing a few feet away from her. He gives her a small smile, and steps closer. Without a word, he holds out his hand.

She reaches out and takes it. His hand is cold, and so very pale, El can see the blueish veins running under his skin.

“Where are we?” she asks. Her voice echoes strangely in the emptiness.

He shrugs, red hair falling limply over his eyes. “I'm not entirely sure. We're in some part of your mind, I think.”

El scrunches up her nose, but doesn't say anything.

Zeta starts to tug her along. “When I was looking in your mind earlier, I saw something. It should be in here somewhere.”

El allows herself to be pulled along. “What are we looking for?”

“You'll know it when you see it,” He replies finally. “It's your head, after all.”

It's disorientating, walking through the emptiness. El couldn't tell which direction was which. They could be going in circles for all she knew, on an endless loop through darkness.

Suddenly, she stops. “Wait,” she says, and turns to look at something in the distance (there shouldn't be anything there, but she thinks there is).

Zeta stays silent and follows her as she starts to walk off towards the thing.

Eventually, they come across the thing. It isn't much. A wall.

El would think that this was the edge, the end of the blankness. But she knew, deep down, that that wasn't right. There was supposed to be more, and more, without an end. No, this wall had something on the other side of it.

“This is it,” she says, with finality.

Zeta nods. “What can you do? How can you get in?”

El places a hand on the wall. She can't see it, but she can feel it, smooth and cold against her palm. She takes a deep breath, and presses.

Nothing happens. The wall stays completely solid.

With a small frown, she closes her eyes. She imagines that there is nothing there, that her hand is in air and nothing else.

She presses harder. Still there.

Zeta's quiet voice breaks her concentration. “You have to be more forceful. I don't think you can imagine this away. Try to shatter it.”

For a few seconds, El stares at him, glossy brown eyes regarding him curiously. Then she nods, almost imperceptibly.

Closing her eyes again, she focuses with all her might. Both hands are on the wall, fingernails doing their best to dig into the nothingness.

Zeta holds his breath. He watches as a small trickle of blood falls down from her nose.

He puts his hand over hers. He tenses a little, feeling the effort she was putting into it. He can feel her screaming, telling the wall to break. Even though her mouth doesn't open, he can hear it anyway.

He braces himself, and starts to yell with her. Pounding on the wall, he could feel the cracks forming.

The cracks snake along the blank wall, creating a beautiful, translucent web over it.

He can feel the blood coming down his own face, drop after drop leaking down from his ears and his eyes and his nose. He's putting more force into it, using his mental powers to push harder and harder.

They're so close. El knows.

Finally, with one last scream at the wall, it shatters.

There is one moment. Where time seems to stop. Mirror-like shards of the wall fall, hitting the ground (there's ground here, even though none can tell) with a tinkling sound, strangely beautiful.

***

El falls back with a gasp. Mike quickly rushes forward to cradle her head, hand coming up wipe at the blood under her nose.

Zeta curls inward on himself. He can't bring himself to sit up. His head hurts. Not as bad as it had before, not as bad as when he had controlled someone, not as bad as when he had forced people to do things, but it hurt all the same.

Will kneels down next to him, gently pulling his hands away from his face.

He sees Zeta's face, dripping in blood, and nearly cries. But he doesn't. Instead, he simply pulls the other boy close and holds him.

All eyes are on El, however. She's floating a pencil above her hand. She spins it around a few times, then, with a flick of her hand, it snaps in half.

“It worked,” breathes Mike.

Slowly, El cracks a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking a chapter to close the gate, a chapter to wrap things up, and an epilogue. We'll see! If I post once every three days, I should make it!  
> (also apologies that these chapters are so short. I'm working with a limited attention span and a very old computer here)


	16. The Climax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The closing of the Riley Gate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behold, The Climax

“I think I can close the Gate now,” says El.

“Are you sure?” asks Joyce, placing a hand on her shoulder protectively.

She nods.

Zeta is sitting up now, wiping the blood away from his face with the grimy sleeve of his sweatshirt. Will grabs his hand and pulls him up, marveling at how light the other boy was.

Even after he was standing, Zeta kept a tight hold on his hand.

Well, Will isn't pulling away either.

El turns and gives Zeta a bright smile. “Thank you,” she says.

He smiles a little and nods at her.

***

“Are you sure it's this way?” asks Nancy, keeping her gun aimed carefully in front of her.

“Very.” Zeta raises an eyebrow.

The rest of the group stay silent, eyes peeled for any sign of inter-dimensional monsters that might jump out at them out of nowhere.

The only one who seems to have retained any semblance of calm is El.

She simply looks determined.

Zeta stops, holding out an arm to halt the others. “It's in this room.”

He looks back, surveying the faces of the people following him. He tilts his head. “You know, you don't have to do this now if you don't want to,” he says quietly, glancing at El.

“No, I'm ready.” she nods resolutely. “Let's go.”

“Okay,” murmurs the boy, and he yanks the door open.

They're greeted by a sleek white control room. Beyond that, they can see the Gate.

Zeta, Will, and El all take shuddering breaths at the same moment.

Zeta blinks, shaking his head slightly, before entering. He quickly steps over and peers over the control panel into the other room. “The room is empty, at least; no Demogorgans in sight.”

Steve enters the Gate room first, making sure the Party members are behind him. He eyes the Gate suspiciously, as if worried something will spring out of it at any second.

Which, Robin thinks, might happen. But there is something to be said for a positive attitude, she tells herself, even as she grips the kitchen knife she had stuck in her belt.

El steps up closer to the Gate. Her face reflects the unearthly red glow, making her features sharper. She clenches her fists, keeping her breath steady.

“I wish I could help you,” says Mike quietly.

She throws him a small smile. “It's okay.” After another deep breath, “Stand back please. In case something happens.”

He looks even more nervous, but he nods and steps back to join the others.

El closes her eyes. She concentrates on the power she can feel emitting from the gate. It starts to hum louder, a grating, gravelly sound. She half wonders if it notices her, or Will.

Both her hands rise up. She uses her power, finding filaments of energy, and yanking at them. She can almost feel the frayed edges of the ones that Will broke, the ones that snapped and the ones that were pulled apart. She forcefully tugs at them, trying to close the rip, or at least make it smaller.

The energy pulses and strains, fighting her hold.

A drop of blood slides down her nose.

She tightens her hold. The energy is pulling back now, heating up and burning at the edges of her awareness.

El lets out a strangled noise. It's much harder closing the Gate than it was for Will to open it. El feels the pain shoot through her mind, the fibers snapping back and lashing at her.

***

It's hard to watch as El tries to close the gate. She barely moves, but Will can see how tense she is, every muscle tightened and strained.

Then she lets out a small whimper, and it's all Steve can do to hold Mike back from running to her.

Will feels a little sick. It's his fault she's going through this. He opened the Gate, he should close it.

Only he knows he couldn't. Opening it took energy, yes, but the Upside Down _wanted_ it open. It helped him, dictated which strings to break and which strands to snap.

To close the gate, El had to fight it.

But it's working. The Gate is shrinking, the wound knitting itself up under El's powers. Only a little bit more, Will thinks...

***

The energy of the gate is thrumming in time with the pain coursing through her body now. El can feel herself shaking, but she's _so close_.

She lets out a yell.

One last push, using all of the energy left in her.

With a snap, the gash in the wall closes.

El collapses.

***

She can feel strong arms lifting her up, gently removing her from her pace on the floor. She tries to move, but everything hurts, and she can taste the metallic slick of blood on her lips.

She can hear people speaking in the background, but her ears are ringing and she can't tell what they're saying. She opens her mouth to speak, but all that comes out is a hoarse moan.

She tries again. “Did it work?” she mumbles.

Will's voice, right by her ear, answers softly. “Yeah. It worked.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh? What d'you guys think?


	17. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here we finish our story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I was originally going to make an epilogue, but I've spent a lot of time rewriting this, and I think that everything ties off pretty nicely as it is. I might still do an epilogue for a year or so later, but for now, this is complete.  
> (Also I cannot write kiss scenes. halp.)

Two hours later, and almost everyone is sitting around in the Byers' small living room. El is sleeping in one of the bedrooms upstairs, and Mike elected to sit by her in case she wakes up. He didn't want her to wake up on her own, and neither did the others.

Zeta is curled up in a chair, nearly asleep. Joyce had offered to let him sleep in Will's room, but he declined, explaining quietly that he would rather be around other people for a while. He was glad she seemed to understand.

Will seems reluctant to leave the other boy alone for even a little while. He's sitting awkwardly on the floor, back up against the arm of the chair. Every few seconds his eyes flicked up to check on Zeta.

Most of the others are pacing or nursing cups of hot chocolate, waiting until the adrenaline wears off.

One by one, people begin to file off to bed. Joyce is the last one to go, making sure that everyone had blankets and pillows.

***

Zeta yawns groggily and sits up. His surroundings are completely unfamiliar, and for a second he starts to panic. After a few seconds he remembers what happened the day before and relaxes a bit.

He blinks. It's so much brighter here it's taking his eyes a while to adjust from the near-permanent darkness of the Upside Down.

He's in a worn old armchair, with a woolen blanket thrown over him. It's warm, much warmer than he's been in a long time, and he contemplates staying there until he sees anyone else around.

Zeta is just about to settle back in when he hears a snort. He jumps a little, before peering over the edge of the chair and sighing.

Will is curled up on the ground, hugging a pillow to his chest. He mumbles something unintelligible and rolls over.

Zeta can feel the odd, fluttery sensation in his stomach kick back up again. The lines that were normally on Will's face had smoothed out, making him look almost angelic in the morning light.

Zeta spends a few moments watching him, before he nudges him a little.

Will slowly opens his eyes and yawns. “Good morning.”

Zeta blinks for a second, before hastily replying. “Uh, yeah. Good morning to you too.”

Will stands up, casting the blanket off of himself and stretching. “Are you okay?”

Zeta shrugs, picking at a loose thread on his sweatshirt. “I'm out,” he whispers softly. “I'm out and I don't know what to do.”

Will is silent for a moment. “You can stay here,” he says. “You could go to school.”

“Really?” asks Zeta.

“Yeah.”

Suddenly, Zeta springs up, wrapping his arms around the other boy and pulling him into a tight hug. Will lets out a small squeak, but quickly melts into his arms.

“Thank you,” murmurs Zeta, burying his nose into Will's soft hair.

“You're welcome,” says Will. He smiles up at the taller boy.

They look at each other for a few moments.

Zeta observes the face of the smaller boy. Will's beautiful, he thinks. He seemed so fragile, as if he would blow away at the faintest breeze, yet he had survived. Survived everything, and even now he could smile and be happy. His eyes could still convey such joy, and such life, it was incredible.

He licks his lips nervously. He knows what he's feeling. Or at least he thinks he does. And he isn't sure quite what to do now.

Will's gaze flickers down to his lips for a second. He swears he sees Zeta's gaze widen slightly, as if he notices the movement.

Oh wait. Mind reader. Oops, thinks Will.

A smile ghosts Zeta's lips. (He definitely heard Will's thoughts. It wasn't hard. The boy was panicking and therefore his thoughts were very loud.) Still not entirely sure what he's doing, he leans farther into the brown-haired boy's space. It doesn't seem to be the wrong thing, because Will lets out a light gasp.

He looks up into Zeta's eyes. The strange glow that he had seen before was still present; if anything the morning light amplified it, making them shine like blue-green jewels.

Something about having those miraculous eyes focused on him made him feel like the most important thing in the world at that moment.

They're both still for a moment, before they lean forward at the same moment, meeting in the middle.

It's a brief, chaste kiss, barely a brush of lips against lips. But Will can feel a shiver go down his spine. Not the sort he would get when he was scared, or the Mind Flayer had him. No, this was a pleasant feeling. It made him feel all warm and fluffy on the inside.

Will speaks first. “Would you like to be my boyfriend?” he asks softly, so softly he isn't sure at first if Zeta hears him.

Zeta grins. A wide, infectious grin that seems to convey his answer as much as the whispered “Yes!” he spoke did. 

***

Two boys are sitting on the porch swing of the faded blue house on Washington Street.

They're curled around each other, with the smaller one snuggled into the redhead's side. There's a blanket draped over their shoulders, keeping out the light morning chill.

The redhead watches the world with wide eyes. He hasn't seen anything like this before; not the birds or the sun or the peaceful houses. Everything is wondrous and new to him.

The smaller boy watches his companion with a small smile on his face. It made him happy that he would finally be able to rest, and to have a life now that the Gate was closed.

No words are spoken between the two. No words are necessary. Both are simply enjoying the relative peace of the moment.

Peace wasn't a big part of their lives before. Sadly, they can never quite forget what has happened and they never will fully get rid of the shadow that the Upside Down has left on all of their lives. But they would have each other, and, for the moment, things would be good.

For now, they will have peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S DONE! I DID IT!   
> Thank you to everyone who has read this story and given it a chance.   
> Really.   
> It's amazing you put up with this shit.   
> I love you


End file.
